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By Rugby Onslaught

Rugby guru urges Ireland to adopt new tactic this autumn

Ireland get their autumn internationals underway on November 6 when they face Japan, before playing the All Blacks and Argentina.

Their first opponents, Japan, are a bit of an enigma as they have played so little rugby since they hosted the World Cup in 2019, beating Ireland in the pool stages. Fortunately for Andy Farrell and his coaching staff, they were given a glimpse of what to expect from their opponents from their match with Australia at the weekend. In fact, one of Japan's three matches since the World Cup was against Ireland, in July this year in Dublin, where the hosts came out on top 39-31.

After analysing Japan's 32-23 loss to the Wallabies on Saturday, rugby guru Brett Igoe has suggested Farrell selects a ball playing centre to expose Japan's narrow defence. This would require a change from what Ireland have become accustomed to under Farrell, as a stronger ball carrier has usually been deployed in the No12 shirt, be it Bundee Aki or Stuart McCloskey against Japan earlier this year. Who starts in the No12 shirt if Farrell does adopt two ball players is not very clear though, as it would require a big positional switch from one of the fly-halves in the squad.

This is what Igoe wrote:

Ireland 38-man squad

Backs (18)

Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 31 caps

Robert Baloucoune (Ulster/Enniskillen) 1 cap

Harry Byrne (Leinster/Lansdowne) 1 cap

Joey Carbery (Munster/Clontarf) 24 caps

Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 3 caps

Andrew Conway (Munster/Garryowen) 25 caps

Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster) 93 caps

Ciaran Frawley (Leinster/UCD)*

Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 10 caps

James Hume (Ulster/Banbridge) 1 cap

Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 13 caps

Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 30 caps

James Lowe (Leinster) 6 caps

Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor) 5 caps

Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 89 caps

Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 34 caps

Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 99 caps CAPTAIN

Simon Zebo (Munster/Cork Constitution) 35 caps

Forwards (20)

Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) 5 caps

Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers) 16 caps

Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 22 caps

Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 20 caps

Gavin Coombes (Munster/Young Munster) 2 caps

Ultan Dillane (Connacht/Corinthians) 19 caps

Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 9 caps

Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 49 caps

Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 109 caps

Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 63 caps

Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 22 caps

Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 13 caps

Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 45 caps

Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 76 caps

Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 1 cap

Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 37 caps

James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 37 caps

Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne)*

Nick Timoney (Ulster/Banbridge) 1 cap

Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 32 caps

*denotes uncapped player